Fouse, McDanel lead Central Valley to girls golf state title

Thursday

YORK – A magnificent era of golf has ended for the Central Valley girls. It came to a close when they collected more gold at the PIAA Championships.

One day after Macky Fouse won the individual state title, the Warriors repeated as team champs.

Since Fouse’s freshman season when she assumed the team’s No. 1 position, Central Valley has won four straight WPIAL Class AA titles and the last two PIAA titles.

But on Wednesday, Fouse teed it for up the last time and passed on the torch to sophomore Maddy McDanel. Of the 24 girls representing five teams in the Class AA final, only two were able to break 90 on a chilly, windy day at Heritage Hills Golf Course.

That would be Fouse and McDanel, who carded 7-over 79s.

Rounding out Central Valley’s team total of 344 were senior Marissa Sudar (90) and freshman Alex Bozich (96). Sudar, who’s also been a starter since her freshman year, had the third-best round Wednesday.

Finishing a distant second was Villa Maria at 387.

“The second one is just as good as the first one,” McDanel said when asked about the thrill of repeating. “Oh, this is so exciting.”

With Fouse having made a verbal commitment to Seton Hall, that makes three players coached by Larry Milosh who’ve secured major-college scholarship over the years. The others were Samantha Milosh, the coach’s daughter, who went to St. Francis (Pa.), and Annie Bozich, who’s a now senior at Robert Morris.

McDanel could be next.

“She’s really good,” Milosh said. “She’s going to be one of the favorites (in the WPIAL) next year.”

How McDanel and her teammates fare next year could depend on where they end in the next two-year realignment.

Pending PIAA enrollment figures which come out in November, there’s a chance Central Valley will move up to Class AAA.

The past two years, the Warriors were the largest of 17 WPIAL AA programs with an enrollment of 309 girls in grades 9 through 11. The WPIAL’s two smallest AAA girls golf programs were Hopewell (319) and Blackhawk (315).

But for the next two-year period, Hopewell will probably drop down with 278 girls. Blackhawk projects to remain in Class AAA with 321 girls.

With 311 girls, Central Valley could be on the bubble.

After all, the PIAA maximum for AA participation for girls golf in the current alignment is 314. That number could move up a little or go down some.

On Wednesday after watching his team receive more gold medals and another state championship trophy, Milosh wasn’t concerned about the future. He was savoring another milestone for Centra Valley’s amazing girls golf program.

“Look at them,” he said as the CV girls posed for pictures. “They’re really enjoying this and they deserve to. This is a great experience, and they earned it every bit of it.”

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